Millions of individuals enjoy the convenience of utilizing credit cards, charge cards, debit cards, and/or currency or "smart" cards as a convenient way in which to purchase goods and/or services. By utilizing credit cards, charge cards, debit cards, and/or currency or "smart" cards, an individual may enter into a transaction without having to have cash or currency in hand or otherwise. In the case of credit cards, charge cards and debit cards, the individual, in effect obtains an instant loan of the funds needed to make a purchase and/or enter into a transaction. In the case of currency or "smart" cards, the individual may "store" an amount of money on the card(s) and, thereafter, utilize the card(s), instead of cash or currency, in order to make purchases and/or enter into transactions.
Millions of individuals also enjoy the benefits of having financial accounts, brokerage accounts, savings accounts, checking accounts and/or automated teller machine accounts which allow then to enjoy the security of saving their money in accounts which are usually insured and which allow them to, in some instances, earn interest on their money. In the case of checking accounts, individuals enjoy the convenience of writing checks and/or other transaction instruments which allow them to draw against their money without having to undergo the inconvenience of going to the bank or financial institution to withdraw their money, in currency form, and traveling to, in some cases, a distant location to either make a purchase, payment and/or to otherwise settle an account. In this regard, the ability to write checks, drafts and/or other instruments against an account is a very convenient manner in which to conduct transactions of any kind.
In the case of automated teller machines, individuals may conveniently withdraw and/or deposit money into a bank of other financial account.
It is envisioned that electronic money, electronic cash and/or digital cash accounts are also becoming a viable vehicle by which to conduct commerce.
Many individuals also enjoy the convenience of owning and/or using wireless or mobile telephones, wireless communication devices, cellular telephones and/or devices as a means by which to facilitate communications and/or to make telephone calls when a conventional line or permanent telephone is not within reach and/or when the individual is "on the go", such as in an automobile, on foot, and/or in any other type of environment, such as away from home, when a conventional line or permanently fixed telephone is not available.
Unfortunately, with the convenience of each of the above credit cards, charge cards, debit cards, and/or currency or "smart" cards, electronic money cards, electronic cash cards, and/or digital cash cards, financial accounts, brokerage accounts, savings accounts, checking accounts, automated teller machine (ATM) accounts, electronic money accounts, electronic cash accounts, digital cash accounts and wireless communication devices, wireless telephones, wireless communication devices, cellular telephones or cellular communications devices, comes many disadvantages and the opportunity for theft and/or fraud. In the case of credit cards, charge cards and/or debit cards, hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars a year are lost as a result of the theft of, and/or the fraudulent use of, credit cards, charge cards and/or debit cards, or the account numbers which correspond thereto.
A lost or stolen card may be utilized by an unauthorized individual to spend upwards of thousands of dollars before the unauthorized use is detected and/or before the cardholder can ascertain, and/or be notified, either by the card issuer or servicing institution, or when the cardholder detects the unauthorized transaction on his or her monthly account statement, that the card is lost or stolen. Similarly, even in the absence of the physical card, an unauthorized individual may utilize the account number which corresponds to the card in order to make certain transactions.
While card holders are usually protected by various coverages which shield them from the liabilities associated with the fraudulent use of a card or the corresponding account number, the card issuers, credit, charge and/or debit card issuing companies and/or institutions, and/or their insurance companies, end up paying for the above described thefts and/or fraudulent and/or unauthorized uses. Ultimately, the consumer also shoulders the burden of the costs associated with these thefts and/or fraudulent and/or unauthorized uses in the form of increased prices.
While authorization terminals and/or devices are utilized at a point-of-sale and/or at the vendor's, the seller's, or the service provider's, location, these authorization terminals and/or devices typically are utilized to obtain an authorization from the card issuer or account servicing institution which, usually entails a screening of whether the card has been lost, stolen, cancelled, de-activated and/or whether the cardholder has exceeded and/or will exceed his or her credit limit. This current authorization practice fails to prevent the use of a lost or stolen card, or the unauthorized use of either the card or the account number corresponding thereof, if the card has not been reported, and/or discovered, to be lost, stolen or used without authorization and/or if the account credit limit has not yet been reached.
Current practices do not entail and/or do not include the provision for obtaining an authorization, and/or for providing notice to the cardholder before, during and/or shortly after a transaction, which cardholder authorization and/or notification procedure would be helpful and prove to be essential in preventing the fraudulent use and/or unauthorized use of a card and/or the account number corresponding thereto in an unauthorized transaction and/or shortly thereafter an unauthorized transaction has occurred, thereby minimizing the fraudulent and/or unauthorized use of the card and/or the account number corresponding thereto.
In the case of currency or "smart" cards, which typically may serve as bearer instruments, the monetary credit on these cards may be completely depleted before the card owner even discovers same to be lost or stolen.
In the case of financial accounts, brokerage accounts, savings accounts, checking accounts, and/or automated teller machine accounts, electronic money, electronic cash, and/or digital cash accounts these accounts may be accessed, and funds be withdrawn, without the account owner's notification and/or knowledge. In the case of savings accounts and checking accounts, these accounts may be accessed, and/or funds may be withdrawn therefrom, when checks drawn on insufficient funds are returned, and/or when the account number is inadvertently and/or fraudulently utilized in an endorsement, or otherwise, by an individual attempting to cash or perform a transaction with a fraudulent instrument, a forged instrument and/or an otherwise "bad" check. In these instances, the accounts and/or funds involved are usually accessed, invaded, and/or withdrawn from the account involved without the account owner being notified and/or having a say in the matter. The above also holds true for financial accounts, brokerage accounts, electronic money accounts, electronic cash accounts and/or digital cash accounts especially in cases when an individual's investments are not properly executed or in instances when mistaken transfers, unauthorized transactions and/or unauthorized trading and/or withdrawals occurs.
The account owner is typically notified of the above-described activity involving his or her account days later when he or she either receives a mailed notice and/or when they receive and review their monthly or periodic statement, which notice may be received at a time when it may be too late for the account owner to stop or reverse the transaction and/or, in the case of a check or draft returned for insufficient funds, at a time which is too late for the account owner to attempt to collect the funds. In the case of automated teller machine accounts, these accounts may be accessed, such as with a lost, stolen, or counterfeit card and/or with a card account number(s) and/or associated personal identification number(s), by a thief or by any other unauthorized person who could then make an unauthorized withdrawal(s) therefrom.
Once again, the account owner would not receive notification and/or have knowledge of the unauthorized transaction until they are notified by the bank or financial institution either via a monthly and/or periodic statement, and/or when they attempt a transaction at the automated teller machine and, at that time, discover that funds are missing and/or have been withdrawn. In the case of savings accounts, checking accounts, automated teller machine accounts, electronic money accounts, electronic cash accounts and/or digital cash accounts, there is no present apparatus or method by which to provide notification to an account owner at the time of the unauthorized transaction and/or account activity and/or shortly thereafter same.
In the case of wireless telephones, wireless communication devices and/or cellular telephones, recent practices involving "cloning" wireless telephones, wireless communication devices and/or cellular telephones, which entails intercepting communication and/or telephone transmissions from the respective wireless or cellular communication device or telephone, which transmissions contain the telephone number of the transmitting device or telephone and/or the associated personal identification number (PIN), and utilizing the intercepted information to program a different wireless or cellular communications device or telephone which may then be utilized in conjunction with the account of the "cloned" device or telephone, has also resulted in widespread theft and fraudulent use of wireless telephones, wireless communication devices, cellular telephones and/or cellular communications devices. The "cloned" devices and/or telephones are typically sold on the "black" market. In these instances, the wireless or cellular device or telephone owner has no way of knowing whether, or when, his or her wireless or cellular transmissions are being intercepted and/or if and when a "cloned" wireless or cellular device or telephone is created and/or is utilized on, or over, his or her wireless or cellular device or telephone account.
Typically, the wireless or cellular device and/or telephone owner first becomes aware of the unauthorized usage of his or her wireless or cellular device and/or telephone account when he or she receives their device and/or telephone account statement. Once again, in the time between the "cloning" of the wireless or cellular device or telephone, and the discovery of same, hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars worth of wireless or cellular device or telephone calls may have been made before the unauthorized use is detected. At present, there is no apparatus or method for providing notification to the wireless and/or cellular device or telephone owner as to when his or her device or telephone and/or device number and/or telephone number is, or has been, utilized in an unauthorized manner.